Asher saw a beautiful young woman with heart shaped face, big round pleasing eyes and a angelic face that could melt the heart of even a criminal.
She had really long, voluminous ruby hair that reached till her ankles and was styled into pigtails that had ornaments wrapped around them. There was a shiny white pearl necklace around her neck and a radiant, innocent smile on her face though her vibrant red eyes could make one feel like they were getting trapped by her eyes.
She was wearing a dark red gown that wrapped around her petite body and her small bust. But he knew he can't get fooled by her appearance considering she was centuries old at least.
"Lady Silvia Valentine?" Asher unconsciously mumbled upon feeling surprised to see this bubbly woman approach him.
"Ai, ai, just call me Silvia. Don't tell me you call everyone by their full name? Tehehe" Silvia asked with an airy giggle.
Asher chuckled and said, "Then Silvia it is. Happy?"
Silvia shook her head strongly with her eyes shut before stepping closer to him and saying with a bashful look, "For this lady to be happy, you have to do something else as well. Can you, please?" She asked as her eyelashes fluttered.
Asher didn't know, but he was getting a weird vibe from this seemingly sweet cute lady and asked, "What would the lady who can get anything she wants want from me?"
"I want a gift from you since you finally got a soul," She asked in an excited tone.
Asher couldn't believe this woman and asked, "Shouldn't you be the one giving me a gift just like everyone else did?"
"That is no fun," Silvia said with a cute pout, making Asher ask, "Fine. Let me at least hear what kind of gift you want?" He couldn't help but feel as if she was up to something.
Silvia's lips arched into a bright smile as she leaned forward and whispered, "I want you to let me play with your mind. It seems quite fun to play with a mind that didn't have any soul for all these years."
Anyone would feel goosebumps on their scalp hearing her words that sounded quite innocent but the intention dangerous enough. As for Asher, who had come across all kinds of demons now knew why his instincts had been firing away since the beginning, telling him to get away from this "cute" woman.
Still, he kept up a firm expression and said, "I am afraid I can't give you that kind of gift. I can get you something else to play with," Asher was hoping she would leave after asking for some silly jewelry or something, considering how she had so many flashy ornaments on her.
Her bright red eyes were still giving him goosebumps, and he instinctively tried to not look at them even though they were strangely tempting him to look at them.
Since Kookus had told him how House Valentine people had the power to use illusions, Asher guessed they must be using their eyes to do so. If his mind was as strong as his Hunter self, then he wouldn't have to worry. Unfortunately, his present body had yet to build mental blocks to protect his mind.
But Silvia's expression suddenly contorted as she asked with an uncanny smile, "You are refusing this lady? Nobody can refuse me, and nobody ever has," She stressed with puppy eyes, though her lips subtly curved into an eerie smile for a brief second.
"I guess there is always a first for everything," Asher said with a casual shrug as he sipped on some wine kept on the table, though inwardly, he couldn't believe how this woman was disguising her intentions with such a cute attitude. She was surely one of a kind.
"Not for Silvia. Silvia will always have her way because everyone loves Silvia, and I can make you like me too. Let me prove it to you," Silvia said as her lips arched into a pretty smile.
Asher's eyes quivered as he suddenly froze before he could take another sip. He wasn't looking at her face, yet her melodious voice was slipping into his ears and into his mind, telling him to give into her.
'Is she trying to charm me?' Asher knew vampires like her could use their charms to trap their victims. However, right now, he was in a weak body whose mental fortitude wasn't strong enough yet to defend against the likes of a powerful vampire like her. If this went on, he was finished! She might get into his mind, and who knows what would happen then.
From the public's view, it only seemed like the royal consort and Lady Silvia was having small talk since they couldn't hear what Silvia was saying.
Asher broke a sweat as he was even finding it hard to move because his mind was busy resisting the charm of her voice. He never knew the next trouble he would be coming upon now was a spoiled and bossy vampire lady from one of the great houses. Why the hell was she so fixated on his mind? Didn't she have anything better to do, or did someone send her? He felt it was the former since who would say it aloud that they wanted to 'play' with someone's mind?
Silvia was inwardly surprised to see a cripple being able to resist her for this long. Usually, all it would take was just a single word, and yet here, she had already said enough to charm a powerful Soul Warrior.
However, fortunately for Asher, he had more than just his sheer willpower to depend on. As a veteran Hunter, he had learned enough tricks to deal with demons like her. And when up against someone who could influence minds using their voice, the simple solution was to disconnect the mind from the ears so that none of her words would ever reach his mind.
This solution seemed simple in theory, but to execute it, one had to have complete control over their mind and body. It wasn't easy to shut off one of the senses using pure mental power. Even for him, it took months to master this technique.
And right now, he executed the very same trick as all sounds stopped entering his mind, including her words, making his mind plunge into absolute silence. He immediately felt all the pressure on his mind disappearing away and regained control of his body.
Of course, the drawback to this method was he made himself deaf temporarily. Fortunately, he wasn't in a combat situation. Otherwise, he would have had to rely on other methods.
Silvia was about to smile in excitement as she saw how Asher's mind was about to give in to her. But her smile froze when she saw Asher being able to move again and even continuing drinking from his cup as if he wasn't bothered by anything at all.
"Were you saying something? I didn't catch you," Asher said with a sarcastic smile as he coolly kept on sipping on his wine.
"Hey, you can't keep ignoring this lady. It should be impossible for you to. Silvia doesn't like this at all," Silvia pouted as she was confounded by the fact that her voice wasn't able to charm a cripple. She couldn't even sense any defensive items on his body.
Asher found it quite satisfying to make this pompous lady keep whining to herself, just like a child getting disappointed after finding out their toy wasn't working as expected.
Rowena, who was still sitting on her throne, suddenly took a glance at Asher and narrowed her eyes upon seeing Silvia talking to him.
"Silvia won't let you look down on her anymore. This time Silvia will win," Silvia said in a determined voice as she decided to not hold back, and her eyes began to glow.
"No, you won't, Silvia," A woman's soft yet charming voice came from behind Silvia as she felt someone grabbing her wrist from behind.
"Ow, ow, you are hurting me, Sabina. Let go, pleaseee…" Silvia feebly said with watery eyes.
Asher squinted his eyes before turning his head to see a alluring beauty with long, shiny silver hair, a well-proportioned bust, and a slender figure.
She had a diamond shaped face with attractive almond shaped eyes and luscious pink lips.
She was dressed quite elegantly yet seductively, and every inch of her body exuded a strange sense of charm that made it hard for one to take their eyes off her.
But if they accidentally took a look at her ghostly red eyes, one would feel chills going down their spine.
'Her again?' Asher couldn't believe this woman lending him a hand for the second time and, to his surprise, saw how even Silvia seemed afraid of her upon having her wrist getting gripped by Sabina.
Now he has an idea why Kookus said the eldest child of House Thorne was quite terrifying, even though her lithe body would make her appear quite lovely.
"Trying to use your flimsy charms on me? Get out of here before I spank you," Sabina whispered into Silvia's ears, who pouted with a dejected look before running away. Of course, nobody heard the conversation they shared. All one could guess was Silvia was getting bored and running away somewhere else.
"Well, well, was she bullying you too much?" Sabina asked as she picked up a chalice and sipped some blood. However, her eyes had a glint of astonishment, seeing how Silvia failed to charm him. This made her look at him with a veiled glint in her eyes.
This was the first time Asher was seeing a vampire drinking blood in front of him in such a graceful fashion to the point he wasn't even feeling disgusted.
"I don't want to admit it, but I do want to thank Lady Sabina for the support, especially earlier," Asher knew he couldn't simply trust this woman just because she helped him out. Still, he decided to play it diplomatically just to be safe. He also thought he had to get used to dealing with people like this, even if the words coming out of his mouth may or may not be true.
"Forgive for the interruption, but the center of the hall is now clear for the Night Dance. Those who have had enough of feasting may dance with any partner they choose," The Hall Elder suddenly announced as a large space in the center was cleared up for the dance.
"The main event has started," Sabina commented as Asher saw men and women forming couples and taking center stage to slow dance.
Of course, most of them were married or engaged couples, but some of them seemed as if they were randomly choosing a partner simply to dance. Very few of them weren't taking part in the dance and were standing alone on the side with glum expressions.
Asher saw that the way these people were slow dancing seemed similar to how people would dance in fancy balls by simply holding hands. It was formal and slow yet elegant.
Silvan Drake got up the moment the Night Dance was announced and took a deep breath before walking towards the platform above him.
"Silvan, where are you going?" Rebecca asked with furrowed brows, but he had already walked away.
Seeing how he was walking towards the platform where the queen was sitting, Rebecca furrowed her brows and asked, "Don't tell me he is still fixated on that bitch? This has been going on for years. How could he not understand her lowly origins...a race of rabid beasts, hmph."
"Calm down, Rebecca. Ceti is a Battlemaster, so show some respect for her title, at least. Her past doesn't matter as long as she is trusted by our queen. But it is not like she will ever become his legitimate wife. Our son knows what he is doing," Seron said with an obscure glint in his eyes.
Silvan took a brief look at Ceti before deeply bowing before the queen and asked respectfully, "Forgive me for approaching like this, Your Majesty. But can I have your permission to borrow Lady Ceti for a short dance?"